Full Text

register

AJ

DOI:
10.1111/b.9780631214823.1999.x

Extract

Linguistic variation across accents and dialects is described as variation ‘according to the user’, whereas different registers reflect variation ‘according to the use’ ( Halliday, 1978 ). Many situational factors such as degree of formality, domain or professional setting determine the speaker's choice of a given register or style ( Joos, 1962 ), e.g. formal speech, prayer, legalese, babytalk or simplified codes . Register variation is closely related to style shifting, which is described in sociolinguistics as a result of changes in an individual's awareness as to what and how to speak in different contexts ( Labov, 1972 ), or as the speakers’ accommodation (adjustments) of their speech to that of their audiences ( Bell, 1984 ). ( 1984 ). Language style as audience design . Language in Society , 13 , 145 – 204 . ( 1989 ). Language: Its structure and use . San Diego : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich . [ A good textbook introduction to registers, especially chapter 13. ]. 1978 . Language as Social Semiotic . London : Edward Arnold , 31 – 5 . ( 1962 ). The Five Clocks . New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. [A readable introduction to the concept of ‘style’.] . ( 1972 ). The isolation of contextual styles . In , Sociolinguistics Patterns . Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press , and Oxford: Blackwell (1978) , 70 – 109 . [First published in ... log in or subscribe to read full text

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